Whereas our English cousins eat scones in the afternoon with a lovely cup of tea, Americans commonly consume their scones in the car with a travel mug of coffee on their morning commute. The scone is likely purchased at a coffee shop and likely has a multitude of add-ins.
Our morning cup o’ Joe is no longer served either black or with cream and sugar as in the days of yore so why would our scones be simple?
The barista does not ask, “Would you like that scone with clotted cream and strawberries or with lemon curd?”
The question more likely is something on the order of, “Would you like the chili cheddar cornmeal scone studded with smoked bacon and sausage bits or would you like the apricot with ginger and clove beauty topped with spiced demerara sugar?”
An American scone is typically larger than its British counterpart and is often a meal in itself.
The Kitchen, in its quest to find the perfect scone has decided to explore the American Scone as well as the less complex English Scone. Today’s American Scone is a chocolate covered espresso bean scone. Even though I do not like coffee I thought this scone was tasty. Coffee loving Friends of the Kitchen raved over this one. But it is not a proper English scone. Our English cousins are more likely to call this a scone impostor than recognize it as a welcomed guest at their afternoon tea.
Espresso Bean and Chocolate Scone
3 cups all-purpose flour
⅓ cup sugar
1½ tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon finely ground espresso powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
1 cup chocolate covered espresso beans, roughly chopped
1½ cups heavy cream, plus 2 tablespoons for brushing the tops of the scones
1 teaspoon vanilla, extract
Raw sugar for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 425° Fahrenheit.
Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, espresso powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl.
Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until crumbly and the butter is the size of small peas. Chill the mixture for 10-15 minutes.
While the flour mixture is chilling roughly chop the chocolate covered espresso beans to measure 1 cup.
Stir chopped espresso beans into chilled flour mixture making sure the beans are coated in flour.
Whisk cream and vanilla extract together and then pour over flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon just until the dough is mostly pulled together. It is at this point that I use my hands to incorporate the remaining flour.
Turn the dough out onto wax paper and gently press it into a 10” circle that is ¾ inch thick. Cut the round into 8 wedges. Place the wedges 2 inches apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with the remaining cream just until moistened. Sprinkle sugar on the tops. Just to add a bit more flavor I mixed 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder into my sprinkling sugar.
Let scones rest for 15-20 minutes before baking in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes.
These morning pick me up scones are light and tasty with just a hint of sweet to complement the coffee.